Frequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked Questions

FAQ - Mac OS X

• Installation content on Mac OS X
• Changing system properties on Mac OS X
• Changing Java version on Mac OS X

Installation content on Mac OS X

Unlike other platforms DbVisualizer on Mac OS X does not install in a normal directory. Instead DbVisualizer is packaged as a standard Mac OS X application.  To change any type of properties or installed file (including the resources/dbvis-custom.prefs file) you must open the application, using the Show Package Contents menu choice in the finder, as follows:

Locate the dbvis application, installed by default in /Applications/DbVisualizer. Open this folder, select the DbVisualizer application and open the contextual menu (click and hold down the Control key).


Select the Show Package Contents menu choice.

In the new Finder window the installation content is displayed. Double-click on the Contents folder an you will see the following:


The folder Resources contains the various file included with the distribution.

Changing system properties on Mac OS X

Open the installation content in a Finder window as described in previous section. In the new Finder window locate the Info.plist file, double click on this file to open the Property List Editor.



Now expand the root node to see the properties for DbVisualizer. The properties of interest  are stored under the Java node:



Here you may change the properties to your preferences. But be careful!

One option value you might want to change is the VMOptions value, to set the max Java heap size to be used (the -Mx option).

Changing Java version on Mac OS X

By default, existing Java applications, including DbVisualizer, run with the Java 1.4 VM. This may be changed by adding the JVMVersion property. The following illustrates how this property is re-defined to use the latest 1.4 version that is installed.



The JVMVersion property may be set to the values as listed below:

Value	Notes
1.4.1	Specifies an exact version of Java.
1.4+	Specifies the highest version of Java above 1.4. Note that if Java is updated in future releases of Mac OS X, the highest numbered version will be used.